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Put pressure on Mexican government

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The June 26 op-ed column “America does have a duty in children’s migration” by Georgie Anne
Geyer, regarding the massive influx of children illegally crossing our U.S.-Mexican border,
prompted me to ask a few questions.

First, what is the Mexican government doing to address this problem? These are not adults using
clandestine tactics to enter the United States, but children who openly want to be arrested to
enter. These are not small numbers. The 65,000 children personify 65,000 indictments against a
Mexican government that evidently finds it easier to let “the problem” cross the border for the “
rich” United States to deal with.

I have sympathy for these children and their plight, and believe it is immoral to turn away
those in need. Who with any moral compass would turn away a “baby” left on the doorstep? However, I
think it is equally a criminal and immoral tactic to extort benefits from the U.S. taxpayer based
on moral grounds.

The reactive solution of building the taxpayer-funded facilities needed to deal with these
migrants only exacerbates the problem by incentivizing increased illegal border crossings. What is
really needed is a more effective engagement by Mexico in prosecuting the human-trafficking
perpetrators and increased border control of migrants both entering and exiting Mexico.

A telling statistic as to how aggressive the Mexican government is in preventing illegal
migration would be a report on the number of illegals they intercepted before entering the United
States as compared with the estimated 65,000 to 85,000 children who “slipped through.” What is our
ambassador to Mexico, Earl Anthony Wayne, and this administration doing to pressure the Mexican
government to take more action?

President Barack Obama will ask Congress for more than $2 billion in new funds to control the
surge of illegal migrants. Instead of burdening the U.S. taxpayer, how about billing the Mexican
government?